repeated for a fleeting moment, then vanished.
Lythina controlled her excitement when she realized she’d just seen Radna’s thoughts, and began to focus her own. Trying to harness her exhilaration into a memory, she searched her mind until she remembered talking to her grandmother. She held on to a picture of the sealight book, and allowed the thrill of its knowledge to fill her mind. And quickly, she erased it from her psyche. Wanting to keep her thoughts uninterrupted, she transmitted back the same picture of the forest coated with her own feeling of friendship. Just then, her intuition brought to light a picture of the twilight sky. She emanated trust in the spirit as she stared at the image in her mind, then released it into the darkness. And after carefully raising herself back to realty, she turned to see a tearful Radna smiling back.
“Oh, Lythina, I’m so glad we met,” Radna sniffled. At once, Lythina threw her arms around her to embrace her friend.
“Me too,” she whispered. “I can’t do this without you.”
“I’ll be here.” They released each other and sat back against the boulder once more.
“Did I get the technique right?” Lythina asked.
“Yes, actually, it was well organized,” Radna replied as she wiped the salt from her cheeks. “You sure you haven’t done this before?”
“Very sure I’ve never practiced telepathy before. So, can I try the other Virtues?”
“Mastering one is hard enough. You sure you want to try them all?”
Lythina watched as Jonas, Riley and Emma each took turns showing their powers to each other. “I think I could handle it.”
“Alright.” Radna eased herself up from the ground, helped Lythina up, and they both walked over to their friends. Riley was just finishing an intense pirouette above the earth, and she dropped to the ground with a graceful bound.
“Guys, Lythina wants to try the other virtues today,” Radna said.
“Right on,” exclaimed Emma. “Which one do you want to try next?”
“I was thinking Fortitude,” Lythina replied, somewhat embarrassed by her earnestness.
“Right over here,” Jonas said as he gestured to a side of the clearing. As they sauntered away, Lythina waved to the others, hoping they wouldn’t see her stifling a massive grin.
“The thing about the four virtues is that most everyone has practiced them at some point in their lifetime,” Jonas said in his solid voice as he paced calmly along the peat moss ground. “That alone gives us a head start when we begin to focus our spirit on them. Do you know what Fortitude means, Lythina?”
“I think it means courage, but I’m sure there’s more to it,” she replied.
“Right you are. The essence of Fortitude is understood as steadiness of spirit in the face of obstacles; like a fortress of your soul. Can you ever remember a time when you were compelled toward the right thing, even though everyone was against you?”
An image of her adolescence flashed through Lythina’s mind. It was of a time when her village was being ransacked by an order from the king. Soldiers were busting through doors, looting houses in order to collect excessive taxes, and she was the only one who stood against them. She had caught a few men pillaging her home, and successfully landed a few well-aimed kicks between their legs. Once they had curled over, she heard a scream from upstairs…
But that’s when the memory vanished. She couldn’t persuade her mind to go any farther, and she shook her head to erase the thought. Jonas was studying her carefully, noting her expressions. He’d seen pain inside her eyes, a pain she didn’t want to acknowledge.
He continued, “even in the face of death, if we hold true to our beliefs, we are practicing the essence of Fortitude.” He turned to face her, and examined her posture with the concentration of an instructor. “I want you to jump.”
Stunned, Lythina froze for a second. “Jump?”
“Yes. Straight up into the air. You can do that, can’t you?” he asked with a tone that might’ve possibly been considering becoming impatient.
Surprised, but eager to continue her training, Lythina crouched and simply jumped up into the air. Arms out, dress curling around her body, she hung for a moment, and dropped back to the earth with an ungraceful stumble. After she composed herself, she pushed her blushing face up to look at Jonas.
“I’ll get it better next time,” Lythina defended.
“I believe you,” Jonas assured. “Now, try to remember the moment you thought of before, the one you shook your head at. How did you feel at the time?”
“I was scared out of my mind, but I was going to defend my home. I couldn’t understand how other people just left their houses and their lives behind.”
“Good! Hold onto that feeling! Let it move through you until it motivates you into action. And when you’re ready, jump again.”
Closing her eyes, Lythina recalled that same memory. She remembered how the soldiers’ furious eyes pierced her, shoved her backward against her will, but she ran forward and put everything into her swinging leg, just as her Aunt had taught her. And she suddenly remembered a curious blue flash of light that burst from her foot an instant before it connected with the men. It made her tremble with exhilaration in front of Jonas, and she instantly crouched, then forced her legs straight.
Lythina shot into the air, and everyone in the glade recoiled as a burst of blue light brightened the clearing. High above Jonas, watching as he shrank away from her, Lythina exploded with excitement as she soared toward the treetops. But her excitement ended when she stopped in mid air, and started drifting back toward the forest floor. The blue light was dissipating, and she suddenly realized that she didn’t know how to brace herself when she collided with the ground. But she held her concentration on the courage she felt after defeating those men, and as she plummeted toward the forest floor, she placed her footing and cushioned her body from the impact.
With only a soft crunch from the moss, Lythina landed back on the earth. The impact was so gentle, she felt as if she had merely hopped.
“Did you see that!? It wor —,” she exclaimed, until she noticed that all of her friends were absolutely still, staring at her. “Did I do something wrong?”
“Lythina, what was that?” Radna said as she ran up, searching her face as if it held a clue as to the origin of the light.
“Well, Jonas was teaching me how to focus Fortitude and asked me to jump, so I —.”
“No, not that,” Radna interrupted, “The blue light? Didn’t you see it?”
“Oh, that, yea, that happens sometimes when I’m really emotional about something.”
She could sense that her ordinary expression was somewhat distressing to Radna, so she changed it to concern. “Don’t you guys do that too?”
“No, Lythina.” It was Jonas who spoke this time, boring into her eyes with curiosity. “No one on this isle has ever been able to conjure light with their abilities. Where did you learn that?”
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